Bad news at 36 week scan - so scared

[worried88]

I had a routine 36 week scan this morning and it picked up some problems. I've been diagnosed with polyhydramnios (deepest pool was 10.6cm). The baby's head is also measuring just above the 97th centile at 355mm, abdominal circumference just below the 97th (although this was not deemed a problem) and everything else was in the normal range. The baby appears to have fluid in the stomach and bladder which means they're swallowing, both kidneys were identified and the heartbeat was normal.

After the sonographer identified the polyhydramnios, I was given a blood test at the hospital and have now been asked to monitor my blood sugar with an AgaMatrix machine for the next three days to check for gestational diabetes.

Eight weeks ago my regular midwife detected a trace of glucose in my wee sample at my 28 week appointment, but it was all clear again at 32 weeks so I assumed it had just been a blip. My 34 week midwife appointment was cancelled due to the coronavirus and was done over the phone instead, so there was no test done at 34 weeks.

I also had a private wellbeing scan done three weeks ago and at that scan, my amniotic fluid was in the normal range. Head circumference was 319mm (compared with 355mm today). I wasn't able to give this information to the hospital today as annoyingly I didn't have my notes with me.

Following today's scan, the hospital have asked me to come in for another scan next week with a consultant at the fetal medicine unit. I'm waiting to hear back from them with a time.

In the meantime though I'm going out of my mind with worry about what all this could mean. It was such a lot to take in that I think a lot of what they were saying went completely over my head as I wasn't really thinking straight.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? I'm so frightened that something is badly wrong.

@worried88 yes your fluid could well return to normal levels. They explained to me that if the baby takes a pee just before the measurements it can really skew them as they do produce quite a lot of urine at that stage. What I found interesting is that different NHS trusts have very different cut offs for what is considered polyhydramnios. I was also told that the deepest pool measurement is not accurate and they should calculate the AFI (amniotic fluid index). Try and not worry

Hi OP, I don't know anything about the issues you have but I hope everything turns out ok.

I also had scans at FMC at about 33 weeks with both of my pregnancies and like another PP both scans picked things up that wouldn't otherwise have been spotted. (I went because like you I wanted to check all was ok, not as a vanity project). They also supported a friend through a very difficult twin pregnancy too (luckily both twins were fine in the end). I agree with you about their reputation and I would have no reason to doubt the results you got from them either. Hopefully that's reassuring

I had excess amniotic fluid identified at 34 weeks; it continued to grow at 36 weeks but then went down to normal at 38 weeks. I was having an ELCS at 39+1 so they weren't concerned at all. My bump suddenly went from being really uncomfortable to being okay almost overnight at about 37 weeks which must have been the fluid disappearing (although no idea where it disappeared to!) DS measures big around the abdomen and head but he was born just under 7lbs which was smaller than predicted. He did have a massive head though (and continues to do - he's 7 months and it's pretty much adult sized).

I had an issue with my son who is now almost 18.
From about 26 weeks (I needed extra scans due to health issues on my part) scan readings consistently came back with a head circumference on the 99th centile and a body on 35th. I had so many scans, all the same. Huge fuss I couldnt believe it was correct but went along with it.
Baby was induced at 35weeks. Born in a room with 2 midwives, 2 specialists for me, and a complete neonatal care team. There was nothing wrong at all, a completely normally proportioned 6lb baby, well above the 4lb the scans had all calculated.
My point is, you need to hollow it through and be careful but scans aren't perfect, my last baby two years ago I had some very odd readings and conclusions for the senior sonographer. Had I not had a private scan first I would have been in terror.
Of course it's scary, born of my children were already born by the stage you are at now. If hospital were worried your baby would be in your arms not your tummy. Scanners arent great and donographers vary. Ho with the hospital advice and everything will probably be fine and you'll have your little snuggle ball soon enough.

Thank you. I’m so worried about the baby’s head size too. I wish I could just give birth now so I’d know for certain whether the baby is ok. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next four weeks.

I'm pretty sure DS' head was off the charts in one of the scans; he is absolutely fine (perfect in my opinion!). He just has a big head. My DH can never get hats that fit so it seems to be just one of those things. Please try not to worry too much, a small movement from baby can completely through off a scan measurement.

@worried88
Can you get yourself a private scan?
They are so much more comprehensive than the nhs ones.
I recommend the Fetal Medical Centre in london if you're near. It is superb.

If hospital were worried your baby would be in your arms not your tummy.

Thank you @GlamGiraffe - I really hope so.

They took the baby’s head measurement twice today so I can’t imagine they’ve got it wrong.

I just can’t understand how the head could have grown from 319mm to 355mm in the space of just three weeks - and how the fluid could have increased so much either?

Try not to worry too much at this stage, it might just be that the baby is big. I had something similar in late pregnancy but it was 11 years ago and I can’t remember if it was too much or too little fluid. I think it was too much and I had a blood test to check for infection and some extra scans but everything turned out fine.

@GlamGiraffe I had a 33 week scan at the Fetal Medicine Centre and all was fine. My husband did call them this evening but they’re booked up for the next week now apparently - although they’ve said they will let us know of any cancellations.

Is it worth trying to have another private scan with the FMC in addition to the hospital consultant scan?

I too had polyhydrannios in my first pregnancy and delivered a perfectly healthy little boy. There really was no explanation for the extra water although I was huge.

Any questions feel free too ask.

I am 34 weeks and have had polyhydramnios for about 10 weeks. Deepest pool has been up to 16.5cm. I am still worried there is a genetic problem but only time will tell.

A couple of things to hopefully reassure you - the cut off for poly is 8cm so yours is not super high; if they were really worried you wouldn’t have been allowed to go home; and no obvious signs of issues on the scans (aprt from a big baby). My consultant said that poly and a small baby would be more reason for concern.

Please try not to worry and let us know how you get on with the consultant.

Honestly, at 36 weeks if there was any concern about the baby they’d have it out. That doesn’t stop you worrying I know 💐

@worried88
My daughter needed both cardiac and specialised anomaly scans (not the 20wk ones) I paid the FMC. (I had seen prof Nicolaides there 18years ago with my son.) I also had the same scans with the Fetal medical unit at UCLH and thete was no comparison. It's partly fine to the amount of time they take privately explaining and putting your mind at test, but the amount of time the doctors went over and over everything to check was noticable. The nhs ones gave it a quick look (it's probably all that's necessary for big things) but I cant help wonder if they would have noticed smaller things as the cardiologist examined it in so much detail. If I were you I would absolutely betide going daily asking for consultations as they are the best. Failing g that I have had a scan at the portland, and I know of one very good sonographer my sister sees who is a sonography trainer in north London who I know is superb

I can see that these things are very worrying as a glut of information but I honestly doubt there's any problem other than the baby being large. Both of my sons were at or above the 97th percentile at birth, with 99.6th crazy-large heads. The first one drank fluid like nobody's business and was afflicted with constant hiccoughs in the womb. After he was born he fed like a madman for the first year and was two stone before his first birthday. Now he's fairly tall (but not especially so, definitely not 97th percentile) and slim, at 5. I had mild polyhydramnios. With my second pregnancy the polyhydramnios was worse. I ended up with another c-section because he was diagnosed as breech at 37 weeks, though in fact was still freely spinning in his massive pool of water then and was head down by 39 weeks. (My own dates had been pulled forward by 10 days at 12 weeks scan, both times.) I was tested in both pregnancies because I was old and had excellent blood sugar, definitely no gestational diabetes. Really the only problem was the babies being large, a lot of water, and the placenta being large. I ended up with an induction leading to c-section first time round because so overdue, and an elective c-section the second time (because meant to be breech), but if the dates hadn't been changed at both scans I think I might have been able to give birth naturally. I did have a haemorrhage after both births, and blood transfusion, and that was a complication for me of having a large baby. But they were perfectly healthy.

Thank you. I’m so worried about the baby’s head size too.

Both my dc had giant heads at birth. I remember sobbing in NICU telling everyone that dc1 would never be able to sit up because he had this long skinny body and a massive head. He's now 5 years old and in proportion. Turns out that all dh's family have heads on the 95th or higher percentiles at birth.

PS given the current climate and risk of leaving the house (particularly to go to a hospital but even to go for an extra scan at the FMC) I would be cautious about that option. The amount of fluid is proportional to the size of the baby, and a bigger baby will need to be in / drinking more fluid than a smaller one. It is really much more concerning to have too little fluid or a very small baby. Your pregnancy sounds healthy!
And lots of women give birth naturally to large babies. Having said this, a baby over 9 or 10 lbs is a bit more likely to lead to a c-section so it might be worth mentally preparing for that, and reading up about it, and discussing with your midwife what the current arrangements are. Given the pressure on the NHS in the next week or two and the fact that your baby sounds happy and healthy, there is probably no rush. (You may however want to order a final/ extra size up of maternity clothes online! The big baby plus extra fluid combo leads to an insane bump!)

I had polyhydramnios, I had an average to big bump until 34 weeks when it went enormous, off the scale, and I was sent for a scan where they diagnosed the excess fluid. From memory the deepest pool was 11.5cm. The rest of the scan was OK, except they said the baby would be huge.

Obviously I went on the internet, scared myself silly about polyhydramnious. I went into labour a week early, failed to progress due to excess fluid, had an EMCS, baby was fine. Came out screeching, hasn't shut up since! She is now a bouncing 10yo. bright as a button etc. Oh and she was 7.5lb at birth, not huge after all.

I don't know anything about the other bits of your scan you mention but in my case in terms of the polyhydramnious, it did just turn out to be excess fluid in the end. The only thing I can think is that possibly all the fluid makes the baby float around a bit so possibly they don't engage as well before labour, which might have led to the CS in the end, but that went perfect so I was happy anyways.

I wish I could tell you how much to not worry right now.

My baby was due end of September and in the July I found out I had milk poly, it developed and by end of aug it was major.

I panicked the whole rest of the pregnancy and everyone just kept telling me how common it was.

I was the size of a house and very very uncomfortable, I went into natural labour 3 weeks early and gave birth to a healthy 8lb 7oz (3 weeks early) baby girl. She's absolutely fine. She is now 6 months old and already sitting and crawling and babbling away, she has a weak suction on the bottle which could be put down to the reason she was unable to swallow as much fluid but she is a big girl and it has been confirmed this issue is completely isolated.

I read every story, Googled till the early hours and all is fine. The good news is, is that if your have gestational diabetes that explains everything and there is no need to panic as it is all able to be controlled!

I hope this fills you with the reassurance it should and believe me when I say the waters are an absolute flood! Mine were at the top so came out after baby arrived and were just everywhere! Poor midwife was soaked!

Similar experience here. I was told I had excess fluid, and had scans every 2 weeks. I made the mistake of googling it and scared myself silly. Had my baby at 39 weeks by elective section, a very healthy 9lb 15! I asked them in the delivery suite about the polyhydramnious and they said big babies have more fluid.

You are nearly there and as @Pentium85 said if that they aren't keeping you in hospital and getting baby out immediately, then you need to relax. If they were that concerned they would act now

you will be fine op as most of the posts on this thread are telling you. So stay calm and stop looking stuff up.

Thanks for the replies. Apparently polyhydramnios only affects 1% of pregnancies so it’s pretty rare. I’m struggling to get my head around how all this has happened in the space of three weeks.

I’ve also been googling and some of the potential outcomes sound really scary - I’m terrified that the baby could have a serious medical condition. Will the consultant-led scan be able to tell me much more than the sonographer today do you think? They’ve already looked at fluid in the stomach and bladder and kidneys and said all was fine. It’ll be such an agonising wait until my appointment.

I’m also feeling incredibly anxious at the thought of spending all this extra time in hospital when we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I touched various doors while in hospital and am sure I wiped my eyes a few times as I was really upset. I just wasn’t thinking straight.

I wish the baby could be born now so I know that they’re ok - I don’t think I can take another four weeks of this.

Apparently less urination than usual in the mother is a symptom - I’ve definitely noticed this in the last couple of weeks. I go to the toilet more often than usual but less wee comes out. I didn’t really think anything of it until now - I’d assumed less wee was because I was going to the loo more.

I had polyhydramnios and gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy and I suspect with my first but it was undiagnosed.

I was induced at 38 weeks due to baby measuring big - particularly her abdomen.

She was 7lb 10 when born vs her sister who was 8lb 13. She is perfectly happy and healthy so please try not to worry!!

She was 7lb 10 when born vs her sister who was 8lb 13. She is perfectly happy and healthy so please try not to worry!!

Thanks @Piplette. Nobody mentioned anything about birthing options today, like early induction or c-section. I don’t know if they leave that to the community midwife to explain (I have another appointment next week) and/or whether they’re waiting to see the results of the diabetes test and consultant scan?

If I do have gestational diabetes I don’t know how I could have slipped through the net - I’d been doing the regular urine samples up until 32 weeks. Like I say, all was fine apart from one trace found at 28 weeks, and then it all went back to normal at the following appointment.

I’m worried about using the finger prick machine tomorrow as it looks quite difficult to do.